The present invention generally relates to a control interface for an electric taxi system (ETS) on an aircraft.
ETS systems on aircraft allow motive power for aircraft during taxi operations to be supplied by electric motors powered by an auxiliary power unit (APU) instead of through the aircraft main engines. This may lead to increased fuel efficiency. There is a need for intuitive pilot controls for ETS which will not interfere with other aircraft controls,
Pilots may have to divide their attention during taxi operations between communications with an air traffic control tower, watching the runway through windows and cameras, and other tasks. Having an intuitive ETS control which allows the pilot to activate an ETS control interface, choose a desired speed, arm the ETS system, and/or take other actions without having to physically look at the ETS control may ease pilot fatigue, and allow the pilot to focus his/her visual attention on another task or control system. An ETS control which prevents inadvertent movement may also assist a pilot in performing all of the tasks inherent in taxi operations.
Many existing aircraft are not presently equipped with an ETS. A large number of such aircraft are employed on relatively short air routes. In this context, the short-route aircraft may experience a need for taxiing during a significant fraction of their respective engine running time. Consequently, these existing short-route aircraft could benefit from being retrofitted with an ETS.
As can be seen, there may be an ongoing need for an ETS control interface which is unobtrusive and/or intuitive. Moreover, there is a need for such a control interface that can be readily installed in an existing aircraft as part of an ETS retrofit.